Sustainable Jazz Plays PDS Harvest Festival

On Oct. 24, the Sustainable Jazz trio participated in Princeton Day School's Harvest Festival. That's Kai Gibson on bass and Rich Tarpinian on guitar, joining Sustainable Jazz in performance for the first time, playing a mix of my originals and jazz standards. Our rendition of Funky River was a particular hit. 

We alternated with performances by talented PDS students, like this duo on tablas.

Perfect weather allowed the festival to spread out across the school garden and meadow, but this pavilion, designed many years ago by architect George Akers, was ready to host the whole show in case of rain.

Liz Cutler, who founded the school's sustainability program more than 20 years ago, organized the festival. My writings about Liz, her beautiful pressed flower art and the volunteer work her OASIS and ENACT groups do, extend back to 2007. 

It was another great year for the school garden, overseen by gardener and instructor Pam Flory, with an impressive row of ten foot high corn. 

Some were lucky to find a ripe passion fruit--a native vine whose productive but rambunctious nature is at least partially contained by a trellis. 

Delicious bread was baking in the outdoor oven, and there were lots of simple but fun activities. A board and a piece of split firewood was all it took to make a seesaw, and these kids had a blast developing their carpentry skills, nailing golf tees into a pumpkin.

Thanks to Liz and PDS for including some Sustainable Jazz in their Harvest Festival.